Yesterday, one of our members, Pineywoods, authored a FanPost entitled "Lockout Limbo," in which he laments the doldrums of this particular offseason. Not only has news slowed to barely a trickle, but we sit, hovering in a void rife with the unknown. Thus its appropriate that Piney chooses the term "Limbo," which, as he points out, is not only a dance done on cruise ships, but an old theological term for a location or stage in the afterlife that is neither hell nor purgatory. Its a liminal space, where the future isn't known. Sounds about right, eh?
Thankfully, the excellent chaps that constitute our membership here at BTB have been doing everything in their power to get us through this extended malaise. Even though there is precious little to discuss (especially as we now know which Cowboys will be on the "NFL's top 100 list," and where), y'all have been blowing up the FanPost pages with informed, original content. The only conclusion I can draw from this is a simple one: Cowboys fans are awesome....and this is the space for that awesomeness to be formally recognized. So, let's get to it, with our biweekly FanPost of the Week Awards extravaganza.
As per usual, we have two honorable mentions and one winner. I simply cannot continue any further without giving it up for our first honoree, TheCowboyWay, who, since joining us in April, has churned out a plethora of creative FanPosts. First it was his "Grading the Numbers" series on the recent draftees; of late he has been entertaining us with his excellent "Mining for UDFA Gems," in which he looks at undrafted college players who might just end up being the next Miles Austin or Tony Romo. Way's stuff is measurables-driven, so if you're not keen on the Combine, he might not be your cup of tea. But I can't help thinking that, with UDFAs, what will better allow them to succeed than NFL-level measurables? Plus, you have to check out his avatar, here. Love it!
More FanPost excellence after the jump...
Our next honoree is a dude who, like UDFA Tony Romo, worked his way up from obscurity to place himself firmly in every conversation about the best in the business. I'm talking about the unbelievably prolific and increasingly profound ChiaCrack. Perhaps needing a break after traversing the Scottish highlands for last FPOTW's winner, on "Braveheart," Chia has penned a meager two FPs since our last recognition ceremony. One of them is a Chia classic. His best stuff weaves in icons from popular culture, and this, the 14th edition of his "Crack Hits" series, does not disappoint. In it, he uses the Books/ trading card game/ role-playing game/ television series "A Game of Thrones" as a way to review the Cowboys sordid recent history at nickle linebacker--and to make the case that Bruce Carter is no pretender to the throne. Check out all of Crack's stuff here.
Onward and upward. You may have noticed that, even though I am a mathematical cretin, I have a weak spot for good statistical analysis. Its what made me love O.C.C.'s work when he first blew up the FanPost pages, and what endeared me to Fan in Thick and Thin, upon whom I have bestowed multiple "Rabbie" awards for FanPost greatness. To my mind, this week's winner, kindablue, has given us the statistical equivalent of the Sistine Chapel. It appears that, several years ago, Blue figured out a "points per pass" metric that he has since been applying to his analysis of quarterback effectiveness.
The beautiful thing is that Blue has been applying it to the entire league for multiple seasons, so he can offer insight about both individual and league-wide trends. In fact, he gives us such a dizzying array of statistical morsels that I can't hope to summarize it; I can only offer a few feeble examples and beg you to devour the rest, here. To wit: last season, quarterbacks were more efficient than they had ever been; Peyton Manning had his worst season since 2003; Stephen McGee performed slightly above the historical norms for 25-year olds (I know, right!?).
As always, take a few minutes out of your day, grab a drink or a snack, and read these and all the our other members' scribblings. You'll be a better man fan for having done so.